This invention relates generally to apparatus for use in training boxers and participants in other martial arts and, more particularly, to a new and improved training bag.
One of the most important types of training apparartus used by participants in the martial arts and especially by boxers is the punching bag. The so-called light or speed bag is a small leather bag that is suspended from a platform by a metal swivel. The primary purpose of working out with a speed bag is to develop speed of hand and increased punching speed and, in fact, the light bag is clearly limited to such purpose.
On the other hand, the so-called heavy bag is a large canvas- or leather-covered bag suspended from a platform filled with sand, sawdust or other suitable material and is used by a boxer to develop punching power. Thus, the heavy bag is primarily used for developing and improving punching force and leverage. Traditionally, the heavy bag is used either hanging free or held by a trainer to provide extra leverage but in either case, the heavy bag represents an opponent. In working out with a free-swinging heavy bag, a boxer also gets practice in using his weight to maneuver an opponent. Thus, the boxer can shove the bag away from him and throw one or more punches as it swings back towards him. The bag is shoved away again and the boxer can bob or duck out of the way as it returns or throw one or two hard punches. Thus, the heavy bag can be used in defensive drills by the boxer bobbing under it and to the side as it returns toward him.
Although the conventional heavy bag described above is useful in developing punching power, it is otherwise quite limited in its usefulness during training. More particularly, the heavy bag cannot be efficiently utilized by a boxer to sharpen his accuracy and timing, especially with respect to head and body combination punches, i.e., where a blow is first directed to the head and which is then followed up by a blow to the body and vice-versa. Moreover, the same heavy bag is generally utilized in training for a match for all opponents regardless of the height or weight of the particular opponent for whom the boxer is in training. Of course, it would be desirable for the boxer to direct his training efforts to the particular opponent whom he will next face.
Furthermore, an important deficiency in conventional heavy bags is that they are only useful in developing the power of certain types of punches. Thus, prior art heavy bags normally find use only in developing the power of jabs, i.e., straight punches delivered by the left hand of a right handed fighter or level hooks, i.e., punches delivered at close range from the side with the elbow swinging out and hooked. Thus, a heavy bag cannot be used to develop uppercuts, i.e., a rapidly rising blow delivered with the arm bent and straightening out as the body is stretched or straightened, or even to develop hooks which are directed upwardly, whether such blows are aimed at the region of the body or the head. In fact, fighters have been known to sprain or even break bones in their hands by hitting a heavy bag with an uppercut or upwardly-directed hook, especially when the bag is moving toward the boxer.
Another disadvantage of conventional heavy bags is that such bags fail to provide the so-called "bounceback" after a punch is landed which occurs in an actual match when a boxer lands a punch. Thus, the boxer's gloved hand will tend to sink in or be absorbed by a heavy bag which does not accurately simulate what in fact occurs in an actual fight.